The human hand has a bony framework consisting of eight carpal or wrist bones arranged in two rows, five metacarpal or palm bones, and fourteen phalanxes or finger bones, all of which are held together by a complex system of ligaments that allow an amazing degree of movement to achieve grasping or comprehension. The hand includes highly coordinated muscular action, and complex nervous receptors, that senses touch, pressure, temperature and pain and further enables an object to be grasped with great force.
On the other hand, the complex arrangement of the nerves, ligaments, and bones occassionally do not function properly due to injury or disease and this disfunction often is curable by placing one's injured hand in the care of an expert who has spent a lifetime studying the human hand.
It is therefore desirable to be able to evaluate the extent of injury to one's hand in order to determine the seriousness and character of an injury. Often, for one reason or another, a person will not display the true extent of his injured hand by not making his maximum effort when the force of his grasp is being measured and thus the true extent of injury to the hand is obscured to the evaluator. Method and apparatus by which the extent that the patient making his maximum effort when his grasp is being measured is the subject of the present invention.